Automatic railway mail-crane



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sl1eet 1. v

P. BEVER & J. A. LENTZ.

AUTOMATIC RAILWAY MAIL CRANE.

No. 592,075. Patented Oct. 19,1897.

(No Model.) 2 Shegts-Sheet 2.

P. BEVER & J. A. LENTZ. AUTOMATIGRAILWAY MAIL CRANE.

N0. 592,075. Patented Oct. 19,1897

T T ,5 t g qfllct'- I ""J IIINHIHH ilurrnn STATES PATENT @sricn.

FRANK BEVER'AND JOHN A. LENTZ, OF EL DORADO, KANSAS.

AUTOMATIC RAILWAY MAI L-CRAN E.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 592,075, dated October 19, 1897.

Application filed May 3, 1897. Serial No. 634,829. (No model.)

To all whom it Wtay concern:

Be it known that we, FRANK BEVER and .J OHN A. LENTZ, citizens of the United States,

- residing at El Dorado, in the county of-Butler and State of Kansas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Railway Mail-Cranes; and we do declare'the following tofbe a full, clear, and

exact description of theinvention,such as will enable others skilled in the artto which it appertains to make and use the same.

. claims.

In the accompanying drawings the same reference-characters indicate the same parts of the invention.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of our improved railway mail-crane as it appears in operation. Fig. 2 is a similar view as it appears after one mail-bag has been delivered to the mail-car and another received or caught by the crane. Y Fig. 3 shows the position of the crane ready to receive the mailbag for delivery to the moving mail-car, and Fig. 4 is a vertical'section through the crane.

1 represents the circular base, fixed to the station-platform or anyother suitable foundation. 2 represents a cylindrical tubular socket adjustably secured in said base by means of set-screws3 3, forming a telescopic joint, whereby the socket can be vertically adjusted to correspond to the height of the mail-car.

4 represents a cylindrical shaft sliding freel in the socket, and it is provided witha vertical cylindrical'head 5, having an annular shoulder 6, which abuts against a corresponding. shoulder 7, formed by the horizontalend of the socket.

8 represents an inverted-U-shaped slot formed in the socket, and which engages a friction-roller 9, mounted on a screw-stud 10, projecting radially from the shaft 4, and when the crane is ready for operation this roller rests in a slight retaining-groove 11 in the lower side of the upper end of the slot 8.

12 represents a fixed guide-bracket on the head 5, which receives a vertical rectangular bar 13, provided with the integral horizontal spring-arms 14 14, arranged parallel with each other and provided with integral retainingfingers 15 on theirouter ends, which detachably engage the usual straps on the opposite ends of the mail-pouch, as'shown in Fig. 1.

16 represents an orifice in the side of the bar 13, which engages the pawl 17 on the thumb-lever 18, fixed in the guide-bracket 12 and which retains said bar in an elevated position after it has received the pouch, and when anew pouch is to be attached the thumblever, is released from the orifice in the bar and the bar lowered, so that the pouch can be'readily adjusted to the spring-arms by a person standing on the ground, and the bar raised until the lever engages the orifice in the bar to support it in the elevated position within reach of the catcher on the mailcar.

21 21 represent vertical brackets fixed to the head 5 on either side of the guide-bracket 12, and either one of these vertical brackets are adapted to' receive the rectangular shank 22 of a downwardly-projecting arm 23, the

lower end of which is formed with a rectan- 31 represents a horizontal fixed arm'on the vertical shaft 28, and 32 represents a curved lever fulcrumed on the upper end of the shaft on a bolt 33, and having its curved arms 34 and 35 extending in approximately the same vertical plane as the fixed arm 31. The lower arm 34 of thelever 32 is sprung inwardly to frictionally engage the contiguous side of the fixed arm 31 to hold the lever in a horizontal position with the upper arm 35 resting against the limit-lug 36, ready to receive the mailpouch from the car, as shown in Fig. 1, and

when the pouch is delivered in a horizontal position between the open arms 35 and 31 the body of the pouch coming in contact with the curved arm 3i releases it from the fixed arm 31, thus allowing the lever 32 to fall by gravity and secure the pouch, as shown in Fig. 2.

\Vhen the crane is positioned as shown in Fig. 1, the usual catcher on the car engages the pouch suspended between the springarms 1t 14, carrying it forward and turning the arms in the direction of the moving train, so that the straps of the pouch will freely slide off the ends of the arms, and this movement releases the roller 9 from the groove 11 and it strikes the inclined upper edge of the U-shaped slot 8, which causes the shaft 4 to fall bygra-vity and assume the position shown in Fig. 2, with the arms 14: 14: extending parallel with the track.

Although we have specifically described the construction and relative arrangement of the several elements of our invention, we do not desire to be confined to the same, as such changes or modifications may be made as clearly fall within the scope of our invention without departing from the spirit thereof.

Having thus fully described our invention, what we claim as new and useful, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is

1. The base 1,the cylindrical tubular socket 2, adjustably secured in said base and provided with the iuverted-U-shaped slot 8, in combination with the shaft 4 having a vcrti cal oscillating movement in said bracket and provided with the radial friction-roller 9 engaging said slot, the guide-bracket l2 fixed to the upper end of said shaft and provided with the thumb-lever 1S and the bar 13 having a vertical movement in said guide-bracket, and provided with the horizontal parallel springarms 14 14, and the retaining-orifice 16, substantially as shown and described.

2. The base 1, the tubular socket mounted in said base and provided with the U-shaped slot 8, the shaft 4 having an oscillating movement in said socket, and provided with the radially-mounted friction-roller 9, in combination with the brackets 21 21 fixed to the upper end of said shaft, and the detachable arm 23 formed with a socket 24: provided with the parallel ribs 25 25, the vertical shaft 28 adjustably secured in said socket and provided with the tongue 26, the horizontal arm 31, and the lug 30, the spiral spring 29 encompassing the lower end of said shaft, and the washer 3O fixed on the lower end of the shaft, and the curved lever 32 fulerumed on the upper end of said shaft, and provided with the curved arms 34: 35, substantially as shown and described.

In testimony whereof we hereunto affix our signatures in presence of two witnesses.

FRANK BEVER. JOHN A. LELTZ.

\Vitnesses:

W. H. AVERY, HOMER HAMILTON. 

